Consumer Products

Executing ruthlessly to deliver sustainable value

There is a brand new order. Your customers, consumers and competitors are evolving at different speeds in different ways in different markets. In a world that’s more complex, connected and fast-moving than ever, the opportunities are massive, but so are the risks.

With uncompromising stakeholders demanding consistent growth and consumers demanding value and taking ownership of your brands, it’s time to reframe strategic choices, realign the value chain and ruthlessly execute for short-term results and long term sustainability.

Our global professionals have the knowledge to help you challenge and disrupt entrenched ways of thinking. Whether you want to improve organizational agility; drive value from digital marketing spend; deploy talent effectively across markets; or re-engineer your supply chain for greater flexibility, we have the skills you need to succeed.

Understand our point of view on key issues in today’s consumer products environment:

Rapid growth markets are key to the future growth of consumer products companies. Of the one billion people projected to enter the middle class by 2020, two-thirds will come from fast growing economies such as the BRIC grouping (Brazil, Russia, India and China) and other fast-expanding territories including Bangladesh, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, Turkey, Vietnam and Africa.

With 70% of global GDP expected to be generated by fast growth markets in the next ten years, consumer products companies need to seize the opportunities and manage the complexities.

Against a backdrop of ongoing economic uncertainty, merger and acquisition activity in the global consumer products sector slowed in early 2012. Despite hitting its lowest level in three years, we are optimistic that the pace of deal activity will recover through the year.

Companies are cash-rich, carrying out due diligence and keen to improve earnings and shareholder value through smaller deals, joint ventures, alliances and contracts rather than traditional M&A. Buyers have the firepower and the pipeline appears strong.

Are you interested in transactions? In the past twelve months we have acted for 95% of the top consumer product companies in the Top 500 of S&P Global 1200, so we are well placed to comment on the global transactions landscape.

Limited growth in established markets; challenges around realizing value in emerging economies; increasingly complex routes to market; rising and volatile costs; and constant pressure to be good corporate citizens are just some of the issues consumer products companies face in today’s multi-faceted global marketplace.

We work with companies in the food, beverage, tobacco and household and personal care subsectors to manage issues like these. Our dedicated subsector teams, supported by our 13,000 strong global consumer products network, offer insight and services that help companies to reframe strategic choices, realign the value chain and ruthlessly execute in order to drive sustainable value creation.

The consumer products industry is broad and complex. We help keep our teams and key contacts focused through our Talking series of publications, which provide a timely, succinct and unbiased update of key strategic developments in the brewing, food, personal care and tobacco sectors. Talking Brewing, Talking Food, Talking Personal Care and Talking Tobacco are each published every three to four weeks.

EY refers to the global organization, and may refer to one or more, of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients.